It is known in the prior art to provide vehicle door hinges mounting a vehicle door on a vehicle body. Typically, such hinges are comprised of a body mounted hinge leaf and a door mounted hinge leaf. Furthermore, two of such hinges are commonly employed, an upper hinge and a lower hinge, in order to provide a stable door mounting.
The present invention provides a new and improved door hinge assembly which enables the door to be easily removed from the vehicle body and then subsequently rehung on the vehicle body.
In the vehicle assembly plant it is desirable to mount the doors on the vehicle body for painting of the body, and to then remove the door from the body for assembly processing. In this way the door may be routed through the assembly plant separate from the vehicle body for the installation of the door hardware such as window regulators, door latches, etc. Furthermore, removal of the door from the vehicle body facilitates the installation of the seats, instrument panel, steering column, and other assemblies into the vehicle body. Later in the assembly process, the door is rehung on the body.
The separable hinge also permits the door to be removed from the body in order to facilitate aftermarket repairs of the vehicle. For example, the entire door may be removed from the vehicle and placed upon a work bench for convenient repairs of the door components or repair of any dents in the sheet metal.